Return to House on Haunted Hill: Hard to Cope
by raditus
Summary: A Persona 3: FES fanatic, who already acquired a second soul to use as a persona, decides to use a magical talisman to travel to the Return to House on Haunted Hill reality and do something daring, and with deadly consequences!
1. Chapter 1: The Spell

Jessie Williams was hooked on Person 3: FES. So it came to no surprise to when she invoked the soul of an actual used-to-be-alive-and-very-powerful sorceress named Fender. She wandered around with two souls in her body, Fender and hers. Fender lied chained at the bottom of Jess's soul. The only time she ever could be "let out to play" is when Jess is doing a super form of Astral Travel. Her Astral Watcher Miranda has crafted a subjugation spell for her main soul and made it completely like an Evoker from P3FES. True to the game, it looks like she shoots herself in the head. In actuality, the spell is activated and the alternate soul just under her main one is pulled up, and "takes over"

Jess decided on a scary trip that would guarantee a short reprieve of her enemies. This location she had in mind would allow her to kick back her feet. She would like to chat with other living people as she always gets stuck fighting spirits most of the time. Her soul was forever tainted and aged somewhat by the enemies she'd fought, so it came as no surprise as to where she wanted to go.

"I do not think it is very wise to go to the Vannacutt Sanitarium." Miranda spoke via their mind link just as Jess was settling down for the night and ready to travel. Jess had programmed Miranda upon completion to sound like Aigis and take on her unique pronunciation of words. "Add to the variable of what you wish to do – the results will have disastrous effects."

"I won't be planning on running into King V – least not right away. Besides, if I can get the robbing losers over there to aggro him, the rest is easy as cake."

"Sometimes cake can cause indigestion – and therefore, not all cakes are 'easy'"

Laying down in her bed, with the paper talisman and bracelet at ready, Jess rolled over

her shoulders heaved with laughter at the literal translation. Calm now, Jess closed

her eyes and started the 'spell'.

"Thomatos, benasser, elianter," she spoke, summoning the Genie. While speaking, she also rolled each R. It felt like her mind was flowing upwards, into someplace spacious and black, not unlike a huge underground amphitheater. After awhile, she spoke again, "Litan, izer, osnas." Waiting for another couple of minutes, she spoke out loud, even using her physical body. "I want to go to the Return to House on Haunted Hill Reality, during the unseen event where Desmond Niles goes into the room with the film running. My location there will be right next to Desmond after he slips into the room."


	2. Chapter 2: Pain of the dead

With her eyes still closed, Jess found herself elsewhere. The big cavernous surrounding vanished to be replaced be a run down, dim hallway. She saw the backside of a man slip into a door. She silently followed in after him. Sure enough, it was Desmond and they were in *that* room! Jess stood in silence, flattened against the door so the Doctor in the projection could not see her. Being in a complicated astral form, all Jess could do was mimic breathing. Even talking was weird, it was more like telepathy but after years of doing this spell, she lip synched to her thoughts perfectly, fooling any others that she was vocal. This meant that her heavily breathing form in there was accidental, her mind didn't breathe, but her physical body had started to. It was akin to the same thing as psychosomatic sickness. She stood in scared silence as the form of Vannacutt stood in front of Desmond. The way he stood there, not saying anything and looking like, at least to Jess, like he was checking out a rival. It didn't help that he was wearing those goggles that made him ridiculous somewhat, if not creepy. When Desmond stood in shock, glaring at the shorter man, Jess quietly snuck around behind Vannacutt.

Desmond Niles stood stock still and slack jawed at the amazing scene in front of him; this Doctor was looking right at the screen, seemingly looking at him! _That must be Vannacutt! Man, he looks like a total a-hole, especially with those glasses!_ Then, as Desmond watched the Doctor stand Listerine close to the screen, he saw it wasn't just the glasses. The Doctor seemed angered, a deep scowl on his face! As Desmond stared, Vannacutt hurriedly, almost inhumanly fast, tore off his surgical gloves. Desmond was sure he was imagining the speed. Desmond was just about to leave the disturbing film room, when the Doctor _stepped out of the film itself! _Vannacutt advanced on Desmond too quickly for anyone Human. The speed in which it happened, and face-to-face with the menacing man made Desmond too petrified to speak, much less move! Vannacutt was shorter than Desmond, he could see that much! The scowl was deep as the man glared up into his face. A comment was going to pop out along the lines of 'eye problem' when suddenly, the man growled in pain and anger! He turned around sharply and let Desmond see a huge gouge torn from his shoulder that was rapidly sealing itself up; the white uniform flexing around the wound and then swimming together. Quickly, it knitted back together in a serpentine movement!

Desmond now saw that a woman was behind Vannacutt and judging from what she grasped in her hand, she was the one to inflict his injury! He didn't see Vannacutt's facial expression, but a bloodcurdling shriek tore from her lips and Desmond's blood froze, dreading _exactly_ what his face looked like! Without further ado, Desmond tore from the room, running on pure fear!

Jess followed suit, seeing stars because of her terror! She stopped outside the room and turned around to see Vannacutt standing in the room, glaring at her! Then, he cracked a deadly, very creepy smile that promised death and much worse! Jess turned around quickly and ran away down the dark hall through a misty veil of stark terror! She reached the short landing of steps. Desmond was already climbing them.

"Wait," Jess cried out in fear, "He's right behind me!"

Desmond stopped quickly and turned around, pointing a gun to her. "Who the hell are you, and how did you manage that with Vannacutt?!" He was as freaked as she.

Jess took a step back, a whimper of fear escaping her mouth. She couldn't die in mind form, at least not right away. It was like the Matrix, any injury she suffered mentally, she'd suffer back home. A bullet would kill her instantly! She swore loudly before stating, "I saved you! That Doctor would have knifed you or something, man!" She was screaming at Desmond now. "He already did it to me!" She turned around to show Desmond the not-so-deep knife slash.

Desmond silently put the gun away. "Some one is already back in the Foyer, get help there." He stated coldly.

Jess, after turning around to face the dark as pitch hall, could hear Desmond move up the steps. Suddenly, at the end of the hall they fled from, Vannacutt was there, glaring at her! Jess knew she was dead, there'd be no way she would move before Vannacutt flash stepped or whatever he did right to her! She looked at the object still in her hand, a ball of Vannacutt energy. It was a mass in a ball but twisting around, sometimes serpentine in form. It seemed to try to flex together and knit, but failed only to try it all over again. The color of it was the white of his uniform, but a more tarnished color. She grasped the gross thing in both her hands, pointing it at her heart, where her heart chakra would be. Vannacutt stopped in his tracks, staring at her with a questioning look on his face even as Jess glared at him defiantly.

"Chew on this, moron," She taunted him even as she plunged the mass into her heart.

The mass slipped in easily and the effect was instantaneous even as the energy coursed through her body! She staggered, heaving as though she was going to throw up! She made it somehow up the steps without being killed by Vannacutt.

Ariel was out of breath by the time she, Paul, Kyle and Richard bound back the way they came. They were on their way to the hydrotherapy room when they heard the scream that made their blood chilled! Richard insisted that they go back, that it could have been Michelle or Harue still alive. Paul and Kyle both raised protests that it could be a trick, a spirit trap. Ariel was inclined to agree, but the most she'd heard out of these spirits so far was just a weird giggling whispering. So here they were, back in the Foyer. This is when it happened; Paul yelled out and rushed past Richard. The whole team saw this young woman, Human, panicked as well as seemingly ill. They didn't reach her in time and she took a nasty looking spill off of the stones steps and crashed to the floor.


	3. Chapter 3: Fall Sick

"Oh Jesus," Richard yelled, bounding to her side. "Let's move her, hurry!" His face was with fear as when they started clearing her from the ground, they saw the splotch of blood on her back, showing through her shirt!

"What the-"Kyle began, face pale. "He stabbed her, the sick-"he swore, talking about Vannacutt as they moved her to one of the couches. Kyle ripped the remainder of the sheets off so a reprieve of Norris would not _ever_ happen!

"Anyone know her?" Richard asked. He felt her head as she lay there, shivering. "She's burning up. Kyle, the sheet," Reluctantly, Kyle placed the sheet he ripped off on her.

"Hell no," Ariel began. She looked back towards the steps with dread. "I'm sure she wasn't from Desmond's gang. I think we should try to stack tables up in the doorway. If she escaped from Vannacutt, he'll track her down." She looked back at the girl as the girl began to shift in her delirium and mumble.

"Miranda, I took…" the girl trailed off then fell silent once more.

"Damn, I wonder what he doped her up with," Paul stated, while running his hand through his hair.

"He probably made a cocktail of viruses." Richard drawled. He held the girl's arms gently, looking for signs of needle entries. He was about to remark, but a noise made them jump. Desmond tore into the Foyer, periodically training his handgun behind him. Richard stood up. "What happened?"

"Vannacutt," he replied, gasping to catch his breath. "He was tailing me and some kid!" he saw the woman on the couch, form half hidden by the dingy sheet. He pointed the gun on her and there were shouts as they quickly wrested the gun away from him.

"_What's your bloody problem_?" Kyle demanded. "She's sick; we need to get her to a hospital!"

"How are we going to carry her through the sewer system; make her fly?" Paul said snippily.

"We have to bust the lockdown gears again and bail." Ariel offered. She looked over in the direction of the sleeping girl. "She's awake,"

Jess was aware that she was swimming up through the darkness until she was staring at a gang of people. A man was peering in her face, and it took her awhile to realize it was Dr. Richard Hammer. He then sat on the edge of the couch she'd been placed on.

"How are you feeling, what happened?" His voice was tight with concern as he laid his hand on her forehead. He looked up at Ariel, 'She's no longer burning up." Ariel let out a breath of relief.

"How _did_ you get here?" She asked Jess, almost accusingly.

"I did loose contact with you," Miranda began with her link. "I am sorry. It is the energy field."

"I know about the field. I drafted the theory, remember?" Jess replied mentally as she spoke aloud to Ariel, "I snuck in with you guys. I crashed somewhere and didn't know what happened."

"I don't know about her story," Desmond snapped, "She walked into a room behind me and no thanks to her, I almost-"

"He most likely would have done that even-"Jess cut herself off. She never did experience the Navigational Cinema; she only saw a clip of it and its abilities from the internet. That's where she saw the clip of the room.

"But seriously," Kyle began, making Jess jump. Oh crap, this might mean she messed up time itself! They were supposed to be in the water room by now! "Where the hell where you all this time and why didn't Vannacutt target you?"

"I was just exploring; I wasn't aiming on stealing anything," Jess told them honestly, "And I wasn't running around being noticed by him," Desmond made unfunny laughter.

"Yeah, well, I'd say your last plan didn't work out so well."

"What does that mean?" Dr. Hammer demanded from Desmond. When he didn't answer but just wandered off, Dr. Hammer glared at Jess, "What did he mean? What _exactly_ did you do?"

The angry glare from Dr. Hammer made Jess rub the back of her neck. She still felt crappy from her electric performance but she felt the blood rush to her face in embarrassment. "I _kind of_ attacked Dr. Vannacutt," She added, feeling foolish.

"_Kind of _Attacked him," Desmond retorted in outrage, "_You flipping tore a chunk out of his back!"_

"How the hell did she do that?" Paul demanded. "I thought the ghosts couldn't be hurt!"

"_I don't know_!" Desmond exclaimed. "I'm about to get smacked around and next thing I know he rounds on her in pain." He glared at Jess before added, "We run out and nearly get caught."

Jess snorted in laughter, "You should have seen it – King V the almighty, foiled by one little girl!"

"I am not foiled," The words were clipped and spaced apart. The simple, single sentence made everyone jump and face the steps leading out of the Foyer. Jess even rolled off the couch to face the door. Dr. Vannacutt was atop the stairs, glowering at everyone. "She _did_ get me," He spoke, voice low with simmering anger, "But I healed."


	4. Chapter 4: Cloning Around

Dr. Richard Hammer, he was disgraced to admit, nearly, soiled himself when the cold and calculating voice cut through the air. This was the first time the spirit of Vannacutt had been ever reputed to say anything in all the years he'd haunted the place. Of course, there was a rumor back in the 1990's, that someone supposedly saw Vannacutt outside the Sanitarium, driving Jennifer Jenzen up to the house. They then stated that they had the video of it, of the conversation. They said that when the man spoke, his voice sounded pleasant and warm. A little snippet had been saved in audio and some people got a hold of it, Richard included. The video, however vanished, as did the person! Neighbors claimed this person lived in Maryland and days later a Black Jeep, bearing California plates drove up to the residence. There was a huge row inside the home and then screams of the owner. The State Sheriff was called, but they found nothing; the person was kidnapped and never found! His voice now sounded the same, but it was cold and clipped now, the jovial tone gone, which was understandable; He'd made himself sound cheery when talking to Jenzen so she'd fall for the trap!

Everyone was equally petrified of this man at the top of the steps! Ariel saw that the girl was next to her. She saw the anger on her face, but the girl wisely did not speak. Dr. Vannacutt centered on the girl, eyes shining with some dark emotion, and Ariel saw her cowering fear.

Desmond stood, undecided. He wanted just to find the Idol and leave, but that ghost was blacking his only way out! He mentally cursed it; he refused to call Vannacutt _any _gender, as he was no longer alive!

"You," He heard Vannacutt hiss, making the very word sound like a curse word. He slowly pointed in the girl's direction.

"If that's the way you want it," She said heatedly toward Vannacutt, as she cycled her Personas so that Vannacutt energy would be the one to evoke, "Come and get it!" She finished as she pulled the spell from its holster in a flourish exactly like Minato Arisato, she yelled, "RICK!" before seemingly shooting herself in the head.

Jess was sure she heard everyone gasp as they saw the supposed suicide. Then, as a swirl of energy came, Jess was forced to her knees, pain traveling up her body with the energy. On the ground, she was bracing herself with both her arms. She felt pain and felt funny, and saw her arms done dull white hospital sleeves and turn into man's hands. "Oh no," She gasped and stopped cold. Her voice sounded different. She slowly stood up, only to find she was somewhat, if not by much, taller!

"How can this be?" Vannacutt asked in shock while slowly walking down the steps towards Jess!

The gang tensed as they saw the girl kill herself. "What a stupid-"Paul began, then added, "Oh my god, look!"

They saw the girl fall to the ground gasping on all fours. Vannacutt was even stopping, puzzled at the shooting and the apparent lack of death! Lightning convulsed all long her body. When it cleared, they were looking at the impossible! When she fled towards the gang, they panicked and bolted everywhere, seeing stars in the air because of the terror!

Jess found Vannacutt in her face quick from flash stepping so he'd be at her quickly! She just stood and gazed at him in fear. She didn't move quickly enough to avoid her arm being grabbed. She'd already noticed that he and she now were the same height. Vannacutt's mouth was slightly parted in shock and his eyes were filled in wonderment as he held up his left hand and placed it on the side of her face! Jess tried pulling away, but Vannacutt held his ground and his steely glare made her too terrified to act. He ran his hands down the side of her face and around to her chin. Through his touch, Jess could tell her face now held a man's features! Vannacutt took two of his fingers and ran them over her mouth, tracing her lips, now turned to man's lips. When he touched where the moustache grew, Jess finally pulled away, hand cupped over her mouth.

"_I have a moustache now_?" She rasped in her new Vannacutt voice, disgusted into breathlessness. She turned away, hunched over, "Eww gross!"

"What's so bad about that?" Vannacutt said with mirth in his tone. Jess heard some of the warmth from the first movie.

Jess straightened up and glared at him. "Well, _Richard,_ you've let yours grow out for the longest time, so you're used to it; but hello, me here. Not used to it considering it just _sprouted_!"

"You _did_ deserve it," Vannacutt added in a stern voice, "The justice is very fitting"

Jess was going to protest but snapped her mouth shut, knowing that two arguing Richard Vannacutts would look just downright silly. She tried running her hand through her hair, but found that she even had the silly surgical hat on.

"_Here," _Jess began in a frosty tone and pulling off the hat, "Take this thing!" She thrust it at Vannacutt's hands. "It's stupid!"

"It is needed for proper hygiene in _any_ surgical procedure!" Vannacutt stated, voice rose in protest and sounded very much like that someone would imagine snob to sound like. "It is not stupid!"

"Well, _I _wouldn't be caught dead wearing it!" Jess replied, using the same tone. She blinked and hastily added, "Um, never mind."

"You're not dead, not a spirit?" This brought the real Vannacutt into wonderment. "But the Idol – I should have been able to sense you are alive! Agitated, with an accusing tone and glare, he added, "From you, I sense _nothing_!" He then spat, "You are impossible, an anomaly!" he was worked up to the point of being angry. He called her several variations of impossible, some of which left her ears ringing.

"Can't win them all," She quipped, backing up.

"YOU LITTLE IMPOSTER," Vannacutt roared in fury, his face even more thundrous as when she first attacked him!

"Thank _everything _I didn't come with the dorky goggles too!" She replied, the quip slipping out. This was the one taunt that made him snap, made him attack! He rushed her, pulling a scalpel out of the little pocket in the front of his uniform. Jess had barely time to dodge the attack as she frantically patted her own uniform down for weapons. "Oh, _this sucks!_" Jess shrieked as she found that she didn't have _anything_ to defend herself with!

Vannacutt let loose with a bray of insane laughter as he lunged for her again! This time, he caught her on the arm. She had tried to dodge at the same time, so the cut wasn't as bad as a scalpel normally would be, but it was still painful and more than a scratch! Jess spun away in a spin. She didn't know why, but it was like she sensed the air shifting, _something changed_! At the same she spun; she heard the pop of a handgun being fired. She saw a spot on the real Vannacutt's chest turn into a spot of glitches as he phased bullets through him!

"Dude, what a Matrix rip-off," Kyle quipped, insulting them both! Dr. Hammer and Paul yelled something, presumably telling Kyle to shut up.

Jess swore loudly and bounded towards Vannacutt. "You couldn't have tried that _sooner_?!" She screamed out at whoever shot the gun.

"It looks like, child," Vannacutt stated once more with arrogance, "That you have the skill, the _potential_ to wield the power of the Idol, to serve it!"

This brought Jess up short from outright rushing him. _Is he right?_ Jess thought as she watched, despairingly as he went to attack the others. _Am I really following suit in his footsteps? Am I going to end up like him?_ Snapping out of her thoughts, Jess kicked out, nailing Vannacutt in the leg. The blow didn't hurt him, as all she did not get good fighting training. It, however, did surprise him and he ended up not being able to phase it. Vannacutt tottered, loosing his balance, and fell. He scrambled back up to his feet, glaring at Jess.

"You brat," he snarled, "You had no right to do that, nor any of _this_!" He started gesturing to her and so she knew he also meant when she got his energy and took his form.

"The whole form thing was an accident!" She tried saying, but it sounded even lame to her own ears.

"Can you both stop arguing like a _married couple_?" Dr. Hammer's voice rang out, gruff an irritated. It was a comical scene; Jess was sure, as both her and Vannacutt stopped in mid-argument and turned both their heads in his direction at the same time. Hammer stopped walking towards them. "Now, kid, what happened, what did you do to shape shift?"


	5. Chapter 5: Anger Issues

Jess spoke, rather reluctantly, about herself. She told of how she was obsessed about this game Persona 3. When some people wanted to know what it is, she had to explain the part about her coming from a different reality altogether through a magic spell. She got back to the point of her actually having a Persona like in the game, and has used it before. Then she got to the point of Vannacutt's essence.

"So I swiped it," She added, earning a glare and a crude vocalization of being a thief from Vannacutt, "And I jammed it into my own form. Being energy of sorts myself, I adsorbed it. That is what caused me to get ill."

"You did something, activated it, and became me." Vannacutt finished with a tone of finality. "I will find your physical body and make you pay!"

"You have to find her first, genius." Desmond shot out. "And do you even know what _reality_ she lives in?" Vannacutt looked like he was going to have a major meltdown, but stormed off. He turned to them one last time, fury on is face. Angrily, he spoke.

"You people haven't won! Lucky for me, I am a patient man. Unluckily for you, once I have set things straight with the idol, you and all your allies will be next!" With that threat, he turned around and started to flash step up the steps and Ariel flipped him off behind his back.

"Well that's a fine mess you got us in." She grumbled to Jess. "And drop the stupid disguise!" Jess rubbed the back of her neck. "What now?" Jess blushed.

"I _can't _easily drop it. When I have my other Persona activated, it goes back to normal by itself. _This_ time it's not going back."

'Dude, you're stuck as a guy _forever_?" Kyle asked grinning. "Sucks for you, man!"

"Why don't you go back to your physical body if what you said about mind forms is true?" Dr. Hammer asked.

Jess went over to where she remembered alcoholic drinks being served in the foyer area from House on Haunted Hill. As she searched to find a bottle that hadn't been drunk by Price's guests, she replied, "My mind form, as you have witnessed, is taken a whole new form. If I go back now – I don't want to know what will happen. I've already lost my connection with Miranda." She accidentally let the name slip as she hoisted a very old, unopened bottle to the counter.

"How could you be in contact with anyone else right now?" Desmond asked. "Like a com-link or something?"

Jess got out glasses "A mind link, yes – rather like a com-link – with my Astral Watcher." As she was pouring the drinks, she asked, "Anyone got a camera phone? I am going to pose with the drinks. Vannacutt serving drinks is a once-in-a-life-time affair."

"V might get ticked off," Kyle said, seriously.

"Hmmm, off ticking of King V—"Hammer added, then snorted, "Screw it – do it, he's upset anyway."

Jess made a show of pouring the drinks and handing them out, smiling broadly. Even as the pictures were being taken, some of the people gave her freaked look. Evidently, they thought Vannacutt's smiles were creepy Jess took her own glass at sat down with the others.

"So, back to business," Hammer stated. "The idol, what do we know about it?" The others, except Jess who was deep in thought, struggled to come up with an answer. She took sips of the drink although she couldn't taste because she had no taste buds as of yet! She was still able to 'digest' the stuff and so didn't want to know what happened to stuff she ate or drank in mind form.

"Miranda and I came up with a theory." Jess offered, and the others looked at her in expectation. "Either it is not the idol, or this idol really is Alien Technology." Desmond just looked down at the ground, frowned and shook his head slowly. "Take in account of EMP spikes, and something was said about an electric field. It-"

"Just can it," Desmond snapped, "UFO kooks are everywhere!" He leapt up and savagely kicked an empty chair, sending it tumbling backwards. Some dust on the floor was sent up in a miniature cloud from the point of impact on the floor. Dr. Hammer had enough of everything.

"Desmond, settle the hell down," he thundered. He rounded on Jess, "Take a walk and cool off. We will figure out, until you get home, on what we will do with you."

"_Do with me," _Jess rasped out in indignation, "Notice me not having a body; you can't exactly kill me, I am pretty much immortal!" She deliberately left out the part where her body back home could get hurt. "And I am not him, Vannacutt! I just have the outer part of him, my mind – my thought processes are my own. I do not want to kill any of you!" Shouting her last words, Jess slammed her fist down on the wooden tabletop, "I AM NO ALLY OF VANNACUTT – OF THAT MONSTER!" People just sat in stunned silence at her outburst.

"Well, that's nice to know," Someone quipped dryly from the group. Jess made a deep grumpy growl, thanks to Vannacutt's voice, and stormed out of the foyer! On her way out, she punched the side of the wall with her mind strength, making the stone wall crater and crack!

When she was deep enough in the bowls of the hallways, she punched the wall again, making it crack and splinter like before. She slumped down against it and closed her eyes as sadness washed over her like a tidal wave. Tears crept down her face now, as well as the physical, she could tell. The only thing that was keeping her here was the bond between Vannacutt's form and the Idol! She couldn't go back in there and tell them; she'd burnt bridges very badly and she couldn't ever take it back! It was Vannacutt's fault; she'd find him and gut him all over again like the inmates did before his body burned up in the fire! Standing up know, she threw her head back and arms out to the sides and let loose with an Human sounding roar that was filled with anger and fury!

Jess was filled with the fury akin to the Sun as she strode down the hall. She was getting used to the body by now, but none of that mattered. Her anger was so great, that anyone who walked past her would have sworn she was filled with the fury of a Demon! Her eyes, Vannacutt's eyes, were narrowed as she made her way to a supply room. They were filled with rage and any spirits who saw her fled from her. It did not matter if they fled from her because of her rage, or that they saw a very angry Vannacutt; she did not care.

Instead, when she reached the big rusted green metal doors, she kicked it open, shattering the giant padlock. She strode in, instinctively knowing where the closets were for the surgical tools. Majority of them were gone but two blades she recognized from the 1999 movie. She did not know what they were for, but it was from the scene in the movie where Price walked in to find Carl's face carved out. It was the blade that Vannacutt menacingly showed the security camera. This time, there were two of them and she took them both! She stood there a full five seconds, holding both, looking at them appreciatively. She kicked the door closed; the door was now buckled in and inaccessible. She also did the same wonders for the big green doors. Now, the real Vannacutt was less one room he could get replacement tools!


	6. Chapter 6: Headache

"What was with that weird chick?" Paul asked when they ran back up to the attic. "How did she do that trick with Vannacutt?" He skulked around as he added, "I get that she made herself a _persona-user_, but why would she do that?"

"Mental maybe," Desmond retorted. "I think claiming to have more than one soul in your body sort of proves it, don't you think?"

"While we _can't_ be sure if her claims or true or not," Hammer stated while they unfolded the tatty map out, "We need to regroup and get back on track to leave here as soon as possible."

As they spoke in hushed, hurried conversation, a hurried conversation of its own was breaking out elsewhere. Jesse, still in Vannacutt mode, was hunting around looking for what was causing the sounds of a grown man quietly weeping.

"It hurts," The man would whisper, a voice of someone enduring long-suffering agony. Then he'd add, weeping, "Make it _stop_."

"Hello," Jesse called out once again. Realizing that her voice sounding like Vannacutt's she tried making her voice higher pitched, but botched that horribly. "Um, I'm not sure what I say to dead dudes. Maybe you see a light? Go towards the light." When the man repeated what he said, Jesse blew the air out of her cheeks. "Back to Tracking Ghosts 101," She muttered. She stepped around a corner into a dark hallway that smelled of cleaning stuff, of _hospitals._ Jess wondered why exactly it would, since no actual stuff had been going on to- Jesse almost bumped into a ghost nurse. The nurse looked quickly back the way she came and turned back around to Jess, mildly surprised.

Jess already decided against waving her knife around and saying the get back to work rant; it would have just seemed too drawn out. Instead, she gave a short, huffy breath and pushed her way past the nurse, who took it upon herself to make way and head where she had been going originally. Jess walked quickly down the hall then veered right and pushed open a big rusty door. She sighed then opened her mind form eyes and wished she hadn't. She wasn't sure if it was pure coincidence or some more evil purpose that made her choose _this_ room to enter. In middle of the room was the corpse of Samuel, the top of his head removed! In the far corner, in the dark, Jess could see a huddled form that was trying to turn away from the presence of new light that resulted from the door being opened. The weeping and protests that Jess heard earlier, in fact, came from this very room! She made her way slowly towards the figure and ducked down to a crouch.

"Dude," She whispered, "What's wrong?"

The figure shuffled, still huddled into sitting position, into a slab of light. It was a the ghost of Samuel, also without the top of his head!

"It hurts," He repeated his lines from earlier. This time, he held his hands out towards Jess, his brains in his hands, "Make it _stop_."

Jess made a horrified look, and a ugly noise of gagging came from her mouth. At the same time, the ghost made a noise of fear and scuttled backwards, away from her and back into the dark! Jess didn't know someone was behind her until the impact of something against the back made her see stars, and then she was aware of nothing more.


	7. Chapter 7: Lights

"Where are you so-called _friends_?" The voice droned, making Jess open her eyes. There was a bright light, which made no sense as the Sanitarium was usually darkened.

"Friends," Jess drawled, still out of it slightly. "I ain't got any friends," She added, sneering. A sharp, quickly slap on her face made her winced in pain, tears coming to her eyes. In this regards, the smack cleared the cobwebs out of her head. She saw Dr. Vannacutt looming over her, face uncomfortably close to hers. He seemed, Jesses face felt red at the realization, studying her face. "Dude, you had _better_ not be thinking of kissing me!"

Vannacutt jerked his head up too fast and clanked right into the big operation light that was above them. He grabbed the light so it wouldn't break and snarled, "Is that all you modern people _ever_ think about?"

"What's with the face moment then; I can't give a close-up." Vannacutt growled and raised his hand again. Jesse flinched, closing her eyes. She felt weird, and realized she felt like since she woke up, but her fear filled banter kept her from checking. She realized that the form Vannacutt had strapped to the table wasn't his clone anymore!

"When I hit you, the disguise went away," He said simply, moving over to his tray of torturous goodies. He wasn't even paying her attention anymore. "I simply need to find what your body consists of; no one who has ever graced these halls has ever done this stuff before." Jess felt like crying, and she shut her eyes tightly as Vannacutt approached with one of the saws.

The main group was now down to only Ariel, Paul and Richard Hammer. They were headed towards the Hydrotherapy room when a girl's shriek rent the air nearby! Their blood ran cold as they realized it sounded like the new girl.

"I guess she morphed back," Kyle whispered, looking green.

Desmond saw the back of Vannacutt as he made his way out of a nearby room. From Desmond's vantage point, he could see Vannacutt's uniform was laced with bloody smears. The group turned around to discover Vannacutt facing them, holding a black mass that vaguely resembled body organs.

"It was in the wrong order," Vannacutt muttered, staring intently at the mess he held. "No structure. She got it right on the outside somehow, but-"

Desmond heard enough from this mad-man. He couldn't see what he was talking about, but he had enough of the crazy talk! The team saw Desmond run up behind Vannacutt. Just as quickly, Vannacutt dropped the black mass and whirled around. Desmond dropped quickly, blood everywhere! He fell, and then died to the horror of the others!

The team bolted and Ariel somehow made it past Vannacutt and Desmond's corpse. She let herself into the only room Vannacutt could have come from. It was a big room, not vastly huge, but suitable for people looking for space. In the dead-center was an operation bed. Ariel gasped and ran to it. Strapped to it was the new girl, Jess and she'd already been killed. She was cut wide open, and Ariel stared in horrified fascination. For all his madness, Richard Vannacutt was right; the organs that were left looked too forced, and in the wrong areas! It already looked like the corpse was loosing any cohesion in a state of decay that she'd never seen before! A gun lay on the floor, but Ariel disregarded this as she mournfully affixed a sheet over the corpse. She was about to pull it up, but there was dim lights shining from the hold where the girl's heart used to be. It looked like Vannacutt dropped a light or something down there. When Ariel got her face too close, the lights shot out, hitting her right in the face. She was lifted off her feet backwards and hit the floor, out cold.


	8. Chapter 8: The way the Cookie Crumbles

Ariel woke up with a splitting headache. She stumbled around, quickly finding an old, small dusty mirror. She peered into it anxiously; thinking the Doctor found her knocked out and did something horrible to her as well! She breathed a sigh of relief as she realized she was untouched, for now. She left the room, stopping only to gather some items and weapons from Desmond's corpse. She then hurriedly made her way through the halls and the byways. She ran through the hydrotherapy room uninterrupted, nothing that the others must have made it through. She met up with Richard Hammer in the shower area. He had the idol.

"Where are Paul and Kyle?" She asked with a wary look

"I'm sorry," Richard stated, out of breath, "Kyle drowned in the pool. Paul sacrificed himself so I could get away with this," He held a gray object that reminded Ariel of some squat creature. It looked like one of those things from the _Aliens_ movies, but smaller, without a tail, and hunched as if it could fly off.

"The hell is it?"

"I _think_ it maybe the Baphomet Idol," Hammer explained as he tossed it to Ariel. "Paul had some fool idea out of the blue." As they made their way through the shower area, he continued, "We had to climb through where they incinerated the bodies to get to this thing. He claimed spirits told him to chuck it out of the place to set them free."

"Well that's the most stupid thing I heard, it could have been - _Richard!_" Ariel saw Vannacutt behind Hammer as he turned to her to listen to what she had to say.

Dr. Hammer was tossed through the air not unlike a rag doll. Hammer flew the air and hit the closest wall with a meaty impact. He slid down, a blood smear following him. Ariel saw his eyes already looking vacant with death. Ariel just stared in fear at Dr. Vannacutt as he strode closer and closer to her. At times, he did some kind of weird teleport thing and soon was right up to her. Speaking no words, he lifted her up from the floor and threw her too. She cracked her head and back against the wall. She was loosing consciousness even she watched Vannacutt pick up the stature.

"_Foolish Idol," _She heard herself say without thinking the words. "Do you really think that is going to stop big bad, ole me?" She heard it come out as arrogant, but couldn't stop the words from pouring from her mouth!

Vannacutt turned to the fallen Ariel, an incredulous expression etched into his face, incited by her devilish statements. "Willful woman," He began acidly then stopped in shock. .Ariel's hair was now Raven Black. Her eyes were black as pitch, even covering the white and she still sat, injured, staring right at Vannacutt!

"Even if I have to die, I will put the almighty smack-down on you. The universe always hated you, _Dr._ Vannacutt. You have always been an excruciating loser, even when you _were_ alive." Even as Vannacutt held a thunderous look of fury as he advanced to her, she went on to describe events in his living life, the nicknames that always came up in Medical School because of his height and other things. Even dead, these things remembered still cut him deeply!

"You will die here, and stay here with me, Demon Woman!" Vannacutt yelled out, angry. "Then you shall sufferer for what you've said!"

Ariel told Vannacutt in a rather rude way what he could do to her body, much to Vannacutt's shock. "Even if I _am_ dying, I can still take this house out _with me!_" She scrunched her face up and screamed loud and angrily. With the scream was a stream of blue energy coming from her mouth, amplifying the noise. The energy even affected Vannacutt to the extent to where it hurt his ears! With a shout of pain, he clamped his hands over his ears and fled away.

Outside, to an onlooker, there was a thunderous yelled from inside the foreboding tower. The earth shook, as well as this tower. Soon, pieces of the structure crumpled down. The front parts fell all over the driving rampart and the back part fell into the sea! Soon, all that was left was a massive pile of rubble that used to be the Vannacutt Sanitarium.


	9. Chapter 9: Aftermath

In the sunlight, the noise of cranes and bulldozers operating rent the snappy air of autumn. A team of people, construction people, walked up to a real estate agent. His nametag said his name was Dick.

"Hey, Dick, what do you want to do with anything we find?" The Foreman asked the shorter man, who had his back turned towards them.

Dick turned around, revealing himself to be holding a pack of Marlboros. He was taking out a cigarette. The man had his hair combed neatly, and a very neat mustache. He looked like the sort of sensible man who has a wife and kids and goes to church every Sunday. He regarded them with a cool gaze. The man flicked his gaze towards the empty space where the crews were working. He also toyed with the unlit cigarette. For all appearances, he was thinking about the project.

"The savable equipment is to be saved, including any trinkets. The place will be rebuilt back to its glory." He stated. His voice sounded almost calming in some way.

The foreman nodded, then turned the group and gave the needed orders for them to do their job. One of the crewmembers already inside found something worth saving.

"Hey," she called out brazenly, getting the real estate agent's attention, "Heads up!" She called in a type of warning as she threw a brownish object in an underhanded toss. The object was heavy looking, but the agent deftly caught it with one hand as if it was nothing more than a thin book!

He held it in both hands, studying it. An unsettling gleam came over Dick's face, but left just as quickly, making the foreman sure he'd just imagined it.

"This is nice indeed," Dick murmured, this time in a not-so claming cheerful voice. It made the hairs on the back of the foreman's neck rise. He looked up at the foreman, eyes piercing this time. "Is this all as of yet?"

"Yes, sir," was the reply. The ugly statue was tossed to him, as was Dick's car keys.

"Put this is my Jeep. Then come back to me." Dick was commanding now, shocking for an unassuming looking man. The Foreman was getting scared of him now, not really sure why. His cheerful tone back, Dick explained, "I _have_ to keep it elsewhere until the place is rebuilt." He added, before turning towards the project, "It is a priceless item, not unlike a child." Dick added in a sort of sinister tone, "Children are priceless, aren't they, _Yeager_?"

The foreman nodded, dumbly, frightened right to the point of seeing stars. He hurriedly tossed the thing in the backseat of the Jeep, thinking of how this real estate agent knew he had children. He returned and practically tossed the keys back to Dick. The storms cloud departed from around Dick and he looked cheerful and unasuumming again.

"Thank you very much," Dick standing now standing next to Yeager as they took in the sight of reclamation. He clamped one hand to Yeager's shoulder. "I have a feeling we accomplish great things."


End file.
